Meditation for low energy: 12-minute noting session, in the queue

About this practice

A 12-minute noting session for low energy, in the queue. No app, no account — press start. A guided session of about 12 minutes, suited to all levels. Nothing is recorded and no account is needed.

What this works on: low energy

Low energy is a flat battery, not laziness. Pushing through it further drains reserves and produces worse work, faster.

It tends to show up as:

• Everything feeling like an effort
• Procrastinating on simple tasks
• Tiredness sitting deep in the body

A short practice will not restore the reserve, but it removes some of the tension that is draining it.

Doing this in a waiting room

• You can do this with your eyes open and your hands where they are
• Nothing here needs to look like a meditation
• Aim for steadiness rather than calm

Waiting feeds the dread it is meant to relieve. Having something specific to do with the time is the useful part.

How noting works

Noting is a technique from insight practice: when something arises, you give it a single plain label — thinking, hearing, planning — and return to the anchor. The label creates a small distance between you and the content.

• Use one word, not a sentence — explaining means you have joined in
• Label and return; do not follow the thought to see where it goes
• Drop the labelling if it becomes effortful and just follow the breath

What happens, minute by minute

1. 0:00Then find the nearest sound. It's probably your own breathing.
2. 0:12You are the one noticing, not the thing being noticed. Stay on that side of the line.
3. 0:27We'll start broad and narrow down. Nothing sudden is coming.
4. 0:39Let your body feel heavier than it did a minute ago. Let the chair or the floor take it.
5. 0:55Let your shoulders stay still while your ribs move.
6. 1:06Notice the difference between the breath at the front of your nose and the breath in your chest.
7. 1:22Feel your hips. Wide, heavy, and doing nothing.
8. 1:33Feel the soles of your feet. All the weight of you goes through them.
9. 1:47Feel your face. It's probably softer than it was five minutes ago.
10. 2:00Notice your lower back. Let it curve however it curves.
11. 2:12When the flat battery feeling arrives, name it once, quietly, and go back to the breath. Naming is not fixing, and that is fine.
12. 2:31If the tiredness that sits in the bones has been with you all day, it is probably tired too. Let it rest alongside you.
13. 2:50Feel the air as it passes the back of your throat. It's cooler going in.
14. 3:04Notice anything you're holding onto from earlier today.
15. 3:15Notice the gap between the label and the next thought. That gap is what we are practising.
16. 3:30I'll leave a gap here. Use it however you like.
17. 3:42Notice if you're waiting for something to happen. Nothing is scheduled.
18. 3:54When something arrives, label it quietly — thinking, hearing, planning, worrying — then return to the breath.
19. 4:09A short silence. Let it be empty.
20. 4:19Notice how you're sitting. Adjust if you need to. Then settle again.
21. 4:32A label is enough. You do not need to follow the thought to see where it goes.
22. 4:47I'll step back. You stay here.
23. 4:57If you're irritated, that's allowed. Irritation is just weather.
24. 5:08If noting feels like too much, drop it and just follow the breath. The label is optional.
25. 5:23Silence for a few breaths. Nothing to do in it.
26. 5:35Your mind will leave about a hundred times. Come back about a hundred times.
27. 5:49Let the whole of your right foot be heavy.
28. 6:00Follow the breath down into your belly and feel it come back up.
29. 6:13Nothing changes for a moment.
30. 6:22Feel your tongue sitting in the bottom of your mouth.
31. 6:34Notice the small gap after each exhale. Rest there for half a second.
32. 6:47No rush to move on.
33. 6:56Let your thumbs rest wherever they landed.
34. 7:06Breathe in for four, out for six, if you'd like something to count.
35. 7:19A few seconds more.
36. 7:28Notice your hands again. Check whether they've loosened on their own.
37. 7:40Notice how many breaths you take in a minute. Don't change the number, just check.
38. 7:54Stay here a little longer.
39. 8:03Feel the middle of your back, the part that never gets attention.
40. 8:16If the effort everything takes is loud right now, make your attention smaller. Just the next breath. Nothing beyond it.
41. 8:33Pause here. Count three breaths if you need an anchor.
42. 8:45the flat battery feeling may quiet down, or it may not. Either is fine. We are practising staying, not performing calm.
43. 9:02Let the breath be slow enough that you can hear it, just barely.
44. 9:15Feel the weight of the tiredness that sits in the bones somewhere specific, then let the floor take a share of it.
45. 9:33If the effort everything takes starts telling you a story, let the story finish without you adding to it.
46. 9:49Feel the pause at the top of the in-breath. It's shorter than you think.
47. 10:03Notice any urge to check something. You can wait two more minutes.
48. 10:16Notice whether you're breathing or holding. Start breathing again.
49. 10:27No words for a moment. Only the next breath.
50. 10:38Use one plain word, not a sentence. The moment you explain, you have joined in.
51. 10:52Let the quiet do its work.
52. 11:02Stretch whatever feels stiff, then carry on.
53. 11:12Take one breath that's a little fuller than the others, and let it out through your mouth.
54. 11:27Let the pause stretch out.

Questions people ask

Meditation is a practice, not a treatment. If you are dealing with ongoing distress, please also reach out to a professional.